# How Much Land, Per State, Is Federally Controlled? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923 "2003-01-31T18:50:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/1 "2003-01-31T18:50:20Z")
I’ve been trying for DAYS to find a good source to answer this question: How much land, per state, is under Federal control (i.e., military installation, national forest, etc.). Any of you research librarian-types out there have a direction in which you can point me? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/2 "2003-01-31T19:34:37Z")
The grand total is approximately 402 million acres are federally owned, or 21%, excluding Alasaka. here’s a www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/lgif/m55541.gif]map. Another article I found stated 27% of Washington, 83% of Nevada. 48 to go. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/3 "2003-01-31T19:37:34Z")
All right! Found it! Check [this out](http://www.nwi.org/Maps/LandChart.html). ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/4 "2003-01-31T19:40:28Z")
Thanks for the quick find. I’m about to write a blistering editorial for the local newspaper and I needed that statistic to poke in the eye of the legislature. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/5 "2003-01-31T19:43:46Z")
Yikes. Let’s fix that [first link](http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/meta/m5554.html). Click on the large gif map for a lookee. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/6 "2003-01-31T19:44:52Z")
My pleasure. 🙂 Let us know how it comes out. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/7 "2003-01-31T19:47:46Z")
I think [this](http://www.maineenvironment.org/nwoods/Landowned0800.htm) is a good start. That list also includes land held in trust for Indian tribes, which is sometimes not included in the lists I’ve seen. [Here](http://www.nwi.org/Maps/LandChart.html) is another one. Interestingly, I find that Nevada, not Alaska, tops the list for most federally controlled territory by a percentage of total state area (87.6%). Utah (67.9%) also slightly edges out Alaska (67.0%). However, if you count it by total acreage, the Feds control an area in Alaska that is in itself larger than any other single state. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/8 "2003-02-01T05:17:36Z")
Right **Sofa King** but look at how much the state owns in Alaska. Together with the Federal Gov’t, the two own more than 95% of the state. This is all very interesting. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/9 "2003-02-01T05:46:20Z")
The percentages in Alaska may be affected by the Native Land Claims act. On the order of 40 million acres were to be transferred to the Native villages and regional corporations–a large portion of the amount has been but millions of acres still hasn’t, even after 25 or more years. ---
**Author:** ![Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b782af/32.png) [@Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermann_Cheruscan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/10 "2003-02-01T06:03:48Z")
Isn’t the Federal Government supposed to purchase land in the Sovereign States? I mean, under what provision of the Constitution is the FedGov allowed to claim land within the boundries of a Sovereign State? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-land-per-state-is-federally-controlled/151923/11 "2003-02-01T17:03:12Z")
Well, I’m a bit rusty on federal land policies, but until someone with more knowledge on it comes along, here’s what I can recollect. My understanding is that you’re right for federal acquisition of land in states: the federal government has to buy land on the open market, or expropriate with due compensation. However, for those states that were federal territories prior to admission as states, the federal government owned the land originally. When the territories were admitted as states, the federal government did not surrender the ownership of all public land to the new state governments. I believe that policy dates back to the [North-West Ordinance of 1787](http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/nworder.htm), passed by the Continental Congress prior to the adoption of the federal Constitution. That Ordinance set out the ground-rules for the admission of new states in the Ohio territory, and I believe served as the template for the admission of additional states as settlement moved west. The provision of the _Ordinance_ on this point was Section 14, Article 4: > [@](#): > > Sec. 14. It is hereby ordained and declared by the authority aforesaid, That the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people and States in the said territory and forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent, to wit: > [list=a] > Article 4. … The legislatures of those districts or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers.[/list=a] In the mid-west, the feds gave the land away to settlers under the agricultural homestead policy, but in the mountain/desert states, where there wasn’t as much scope for agriculture, the federal government retained title to greater proportion of the land. If you’ll look at the map **pravnik** linked to, you’ll see that the concentration of federal ownership matches that pattern. But, if I’ve got it wrong, I’d be pleased to be corrected by someone with more info on the topic, like **Sofa King**.